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| - A 1974 newspaper article reported that Kissinger's aides associated the phrase — or at least the gist of it — with their boss. However, the existence of published examples of versions of the quote dated as early as 1914 hint that Kissinger might have been referencing an existing saying that had already circulated for decades, rather than expressing an entirely original sentiment.
For years, internet users have attributed a saying about controlling nations by controlling their food supply to Henry Kissinger, the U.S. diplomat who served as secretary of state from 1973 to 1977.
Multiple versions of the quote have circulated. One, reading "Who controls the food, controls the people," has appeared in posts on X (archived) and Instagram (archived).
Another version (archived) that has popped up in social media posts (archived), as well as on the quote meme website Quotefancy, was: "Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world."
(Quotefancy)
A third version, which conspiracy theorist Alex Jones attributed to Kissinger in his 2022 book "The Great Reset," read: "Control the Food, control the People. Control the Energy, control the Continents. Control the Money, control the World."
Some internet users have wondered whether Kissinger was really the quote's author. For example, in 2022, a Reddit user posted (archived) a version of the quote to the r/NoStupidQuestions subreddit, asking: "Where was Henry Kissinger and who was he speaking to at the time? What was the context behind this statement?" The two Reddit users who responded to the post both reported not being able to find a primary source, and suggested the attribution might be incorrect.
Did Kissinger Say the Quote?
A seemingly definitive answer came in February 2023, less than a year before the diplomat died at age 100. Asked about the authenticity of the quote, Kissinger's press officer told (archived) Reuters that the diplomat "has never said that quotation or anything like it on any social media or anywhere else."
However, our investigation into the origin of the quote turned up two separate instances of the Kissinger attribution dating to 1985 — suggesting there might be more to the story. Both 1985 examples appeared in reader letters published in newspapers. One ran in the Sun-Herald (Biloxi, Mississippi) on Oct. 9, and gave the following version of the quote: "If you control food, you control people; if you control oil, you control nations, if you control money, you control the world."
The other 1985 example appeared in the Rapid City (South Dakota) Journal on Oct. 30 and read: "When we control food, we control people. Controlling energy controls nations, but control of money controls the world."
Searching for variations on the two 1985 examples of the quote led us to what appears to have been the original source for the quote's association with Kissinger. In an article for the Washington News Intelligence Syndicate, which can be seen below as it appeared in the Fort Lauderdale News on Sept. 24, 1974, the reporter Paul Scott wrote: "It is Kissinger's belief, according to aides, that by controlling food one can control people, and by controlling energy, especially oil, one can control nations and financial systems."
https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-lauderdale-news/159435030/
Article from Sep 24, 1974 Fort Lauderdale News (Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
Because the reporter cited Kissinger's aides rather than directly quoting Kissinger himself, this article does not technically qualify as a primary source. Proving without a doubt that Kissinger was the original source for the quote would require demonstrable evidence of him saying the words, such as a video or published transcript of a speech or interview.
However, the existence of the 1974 article in which Kissinger's aides attributed the saying to him suggests there is some truth to the quote's persistent association with the diplomat, despite his press officer's 2023 denial that Kissinger had ever said anything along these lines.
Earlier Examples
That said, versions of the first part of the quote — concerning food — appeared in a wide range of earlier publications, raising the possibility that Kissinger may have been riffing on a previously existing saying, if he did indeed say these words to his aides.
In 1945, for example, the lawyer and poet Thomas Lomax-Hunter wrote in a Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch article: "Whosoever controls the people's food controls the people."
In a 1944 speech recorded in the Congressional Record, Alexander Wiley, a senator from Wisconsin, attributed the phrase "The one who controls the food of a nation controls the nation" to Karl Marx. (We found no evidence to support Wiley's claim that Marx — a frequent subject of false quote attributions — was the quote's original author.)
And in 1914, nine years before Kissinger's birth, the author William Leavitt Stoddard began an article in the generally left-leaning Pearson's Magazine with: "Those who control the people's food control the life of the people."
In summary, despite the absence of a primary source definitively proving Kissinger said "Who controls the food supply controls the people," a 1974 syndicated newspaper article reported that Kissinger's aides associated the phrase — or at least the gist of it — with their boss. However, the existence of published examples of versions of the quote dating as early as 1914 hint that Kissinger might have been referencing an existing saying that had circulated for more than half a century, rather than expressing an entirely original sentiment. As a result, we've rated this claim a
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